This invention relates to an electronic paperless couponing system that allows an in-store, electronic coupon to be issued and redeemed without the necessity of putting the coupon on paper or other tangible medium. In the marketplace, the redemption coupon has become a popular means of both advertising a product and providing the consumer with a financial benefit. The redemption coupon customarily allows the holder of the coupon to receive a special savings on one or more products that is not available to other shoppers who do not possess the coupon. The coupon upon redemption provides a means for tracking customer tastes and reactions. Information can be correlated with other marketing data to develop a customer profile for intelligent analysis of product promotions.
Unfortunately, because redemption coupons frequently have a cash redemption, the conventional system is subject to abuse. Redemption coupons can be submitted in large numbers to the product manufacturer by unscrupulous retailers without the product having ever been purchased. Because of the difficulty in correlating the number of available redemption coupons with the specialty items sold, the conventional system is subject to manipulation. It would be extremely desirable to a product manufacturer, if a redemption coupon presented to a potential purchaser was directly correlated with the purchase of an item that is the subject of the coupon. It would be even more desirable if it were possible to assure that the purchaser inspected the coupon and the exercise of the coupon resulted in a direct savings to the shopper. In this manner, each time that the redemption coupon is exercised by the consumer, the manufacturer is assured that an exercised coupon for a specific product is directly related to the identical product being purchased by that customer. Such a system would eliminate the potential for abuse and permit redemption of only those coupons that are actually exercised by a consumer and resulted in a savings to that shopper upon purchase of the specified item. Additionally, an electronic system that provides both for the display of the electronic coupon and the electronic issuance and redemption of such coupon can wholly avoid the necessity for printing and publishing coupons in material form and the attendant expense of such printing and distribution.
In its preferred form, the electronic coupon system is incorporated into a portable shopper's display system that in turn is coordinated with an in-store electronic marketing system, preferably of the type disclosed in U.S. patent application entitled Automated Shopping Cart Handle, U.S. Ser. No. 08/090,285, filed Jul. 12, 1993.
The electronic paperless couponing system of this invention can be combined with the point of purchase promotional system described in the referenced patent application, or, can be an independent system designed exclusively to provide electronic coupons to prospective purchasers. In its preferred embodiment the couponing system utilizes standard bar code data and product identification numbers to coordinate the coupon issuance with the product sales accounting using existing store or manufacturer accounting systems in conjunction with the systems computer that issues, records and redeems the discount coupons in the electronic paperless couponing system of this invention.